Hugo van Bolhuis (muzikant) over de invloed van Arthur Hesselbach op de groep “DB70” tijdens 2 weken van intensieve repetitie in Düsseldorf in de zomer van 1970.

… in the summer of 1970 four of us went to perform in the European Dawnbreakers group known as “DB 70”. About 25 youth from about twenty countries spent two weeks of intense, challenging and exciting rehearsal in Düsseldorf with the hired professional Dutch choreographer, Arthur Hesselbach. We expected him to teach us steps and routines and to rehearse a script with us for a conventional show much like that of the first international Dawnbreakers, but it was going to be quite a different thing. There was no script. He just trained us to listen to and to respond to each other and to the environment, and work with simple props like long sticks and scarves. In two weeks he lead us through a process, after which we were able to make our own script in one day. And we would be able to adapt our show to local circumstances: sometimes an enormous outdoor stage of stone with stairs leading up to a castle-wall, at other times a lovely small theatre or a church. In Hamburg we were in the huge Auditorium Maximum, a hall where the Beatles had once performed.

Our show followed these themes: the development of humanity by becoming self aware, then discovering matter and using it in a materialistic way, the development of world conflict as a result of that (complimented with stunning stroboscopic lighting) and finally the establishment of world unity. In that last part the lights would turn to the warmest colors and we would sing our songs (some of them arranged by the Garcias).

Because of the diversity of our group and a lot of talent we could incorporate lovely touches such as live Persian dance (thank you Asar), American Gospel (thank you Cecilia), an Elvis Presley hit (thank you Ginger) and a part of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto (thank you: Bijan).

We traveled in a bus, performing almost every evening for 4 ½ weeks in; Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria, Germany, Denmark, and The Netherlands. Our show improved as we traveled and at times the audience was wildly enthusiastic or deeply moved. The whole tour was broadly covered by the media (newspaper, radio and television). Of course we had a secret weapon in our PR group, a real American movie-star: Linda Marshall.

It was a very inspiring and exciting tour and so the four Dutch members of the group returned to the Netherlands with more enthusiasm than ever for our Dutch Dawnbreaker group, which was also trained by Arthur Hesselbach.

shortlink:  i1c.nl/197007

26 okt. 1966 oefenen met 32 personen.

• Begonnen met oproep spanningen
• Toen met instrumenten op bewegingen, direct naar de groep, iniatief tot eigen interpretatie; ontstaan van schijngevechten
• Twee spelers reageren op elkaar op de gong, groep reageert op beide gongen.
• Spelontwerp door groepjes

Repetitie in de Adventkerk.

Spel uitvoering op 22 oktober 1966. Opkomst: 61 jongelui.

• Opbouw improvisatie ritme
• opbouw ritme op 6 Djembee trommels en groepsbeweging
• groep tegen de muur. losmaken in het vlak / opkomende spanning / meisjes werpen zich met een kreet in het veld
• tegenstellingen tussen jongens en meisjes
• 15 minuten ideëen uitwisselen in groepjes

• Grootste gedeelte “orkest” al in de zaal
• Op toneel: Gong, Pauk, Tam-Tam, Tamboerijn
• Begin: fluisterkoor begint na gongslag.
• <<FRATER FLORIANUS>> Eindigt met schreeuw.
• Tam-tam snel tempo, pauk langzaam, trommeltje antwoord, gevolgd door belltjes en dan rest van de instrumenten.
• 10 dansers komen op
• Tien stokken, 2 aan 2 in het midden.
• Daarna volg nog veel meer, waarbij de zaal meezingt, “stokvechters” Ting-Tang-Ting-Tang-Tong-Tang naar elkaar toe bewegen, dan Ooooh Ooooh van elkaar af en uiteindelijk een kring.
• We eindigen met een schreeuw:  Hoi!!!